Water Water Everywhere

Yeah but it happened during a shower, probably due to heat and moisture the glass just bursted. Learned my lesson to never shower with a watch again.

Yes, once when I was a dopey teen and I thought that the little wave logo (probably 30M WR) meant fine for belly-flopping into pools. After that I learned to just not dunk watches and lived happily ever after. Well except for that cheap Chinese Winner watch that somehow sucked moisture out of the air to suicide itself, but that is a far outlier.

No water ingress, but 60m is the lowest wr watch I own, and I treat that one like it's basically only splash resistant.

Never swam with a automatic watch before not planning on doing so soon either

I have a Citizen that advertised as 100M WR & went swimming with it. A seal must have been slightly bad because it didnt full on flood, but it was more than condensation.

I Have had a customer bring a water damaged Tissot. He didn't screw the crown in properly before going for a swim in the ocean...😮‍💨

As a vintage watch and dress watch lover, water resistance is not a requirement for me. I understand why one would want some, but when some people say that they need 20 atmospheres for a daily watch, I am left being puzzled.

I have worn watches that are at most splash proof for my whole time as a collector and (touch wood) haven't had anything go wrong yet. Maybe it's because I live in a very dry climate and threaten anyone who dares push me in a pool with beheading.

Oof :(

I bought a Swatch Irony before I was fully into watches as it had 50m wr, and I was surfing a lot. Water got in and that’s why most of my watches have 100m of wr now.

"Water, water, everywhere.

And all the boards did shrink.

Water, water everywhere.

Nor any drop to drink.

External damage only. I’ve never had a leak. I was in a pool that had such a high chlorine content it bleached the lume in the dial.

I never take shower or swim with a watch on my wrist.

Never had water issues with a watch, still prefer 5 bar over 3 for peace of mind, but couldn't care less otherwise

Thanks for bringing this up. I think in general water resistance is overrated, and most of us are not diving every day. I did go swimming with my first watch my Timex expedition that only had 50m of water resistance. Water got in the case and crystal messed it up. I was upset. Although it could’ve been from worn seals or not properly screwed case back, that made me want to get more robust and versatile watches in the future.

I bought a fake Rolex Submariner a few years ago, just for fun. No, I wasn't going to wear it outside the house or anything LOL. I took it in the pool, and it was not even 2 feet underwater. It siezed up and stopped working. Quality item!

That should normally be the case because most stems have a backup seal halfway along the stem. This particular model did not. I had to use quite a bit of rust remover...

In addition to this, safety factors are nice and everything degrades. If 30m of wr will probably keep my watch safe in most situations for a long time, 100m will keep it safe in more situations and for longer. A lot of the reasons people don't "need" high wr are just precautions they've practiced because they're used to low wr. My truck doesn't need more than 500lbs of payload if I decide never to haul anything with it, but having more than that allows me to do essentially all that I want and not risk damage. I could probably keep a 30m water resistant watch alive, but I'd have to take it off for a bunch of activities. I'd rather just have a watch with enough wr that I don't have to work around it. I think it's kind of silly that any watch above 100 bucks has less than 50m, and I wouldn't personally buy anything for more than $1000 with less than 100m, to be honest.

This is also the reason I like more wr on watches, more redundancies in case of mistakes/failures.

Yeah, lost a Timex to a Mexican swimming pool in the early 2000s.

I like keeping my watch on me. Especially holidays short breaks whatever having something I can wear in the pool without worry is nice for me.

Plus the added bonus of not leaving it in a safe or in the room somewhere.

💯, I've seen many dive watch that catch my attention only to see that they have 100m of water resistance and $1000 ( ie. Hamilton khaki dive). Even the $300 Seikos caught hell for being 100m dive. That's field watch specs (and some field watch have better numbers)

That's my Tag Heuer Indy500 horror story, never went in the pool or bech with it. But one day it stopped. And when I tried turn the crown, it came out and had a rusty stem. Sometimes water resistance is simply knowing you can wash your hand or leave you watch on the bathroom counter while you take a steaming shower

Greetings from the Pacific Northwest, where we always need some atmospheres for daily wear! ☔

Record consecutive days of rain: 79

Lowest avg humidity: ~69% in July

Highest avg humidity: ~85% in December

As I write this, the humidity is 87% and it's not even raining.

So..when I get a splash resistant watch, I open it, pack the gasket channel with silicone grease, then close it again - just to give it some extra defense against atmospheric moisture and keep the seal supple. I also keep dessicant in my watch box.

Yes, I’ve definitely seen water damage. It was years ago. Now, all of my watches are at a MINIMUM 100m of WR. I’m extremely active with water sports and live on a lake. If a watch can’t take my daily dose of water or altitude ( I get to fly airplanes for my job) it’s “Out-of-the-Box!” My current “go-to” is the Citizen Marine Master GMT Titanium. An Ecodrive travelers GMT. A pilots watch, a divers watch.

Happened to my first pelagos of all watches. While wake boarding with it

100m water resistance and went into a volcanic hit spring..... Well the watch didn't make it. Only stayed at normal boyance so no diving but alas it's time was up. The jelwer informed me that it was due to the hot temperature of the water causing the metal to swell /expand disproportionately to the glass. He did fix it, with a full service but it still got condensation build up. I presume due to the difference in moisture ambient air and pressure of that island to my native country. Either that or the seal is just comprised.

Needless to say that watch is no longer with us, but it did teach me a valuable lesson. Don't go into a volcanic hit spring with a metal watch. ( Would still chance it with a GShock, but thats more just too see)

Twice :

• a bit of moisture under the glass of an Orient Chronograph (ref WV0041TX) ;

• traces of rust inside an Omega AquaTerra (ref 2517.30.00), it was not visible from the outside, the watch stopped and the watchmaker told me so.

Both were 100m WR* and never saw water nor even rain.

(*) edit : 150m WR for the Omega.

Nope

My cousin, a wealthy bank manager, regularly swims in the sea with his Speedmaster (50 m w/r!!) I think he's got more money than sense 🤯😱

I understand that. Our summers are usually quite wet too, but not to that extent. I also keep dessicant in my watch boxes; that stuff always comes in handy.

My first watch, when I was a kid. I never considered water resistance, but I never took it into water either - liquid water, mind you. I noticed condensation under the glass when I was skiing and never did anything with it afterwards, so I'm sure there was some water damage. But the watch still worked, I think it only broke when a bad battery leaked inside.